Proximity information in configuration of data links in wireless networks

ABSTRACT

Cluster management techniques for wireless data links are described. According to some such techniques, a wireless communication device may maintain proximity information for consideration in conjunction with assigning NAN data links to NAN data clusters. In some embodiments, a wireless communication device may store proximity information for a given NAN data link in an NDL attribute associated with that NAN data link, and may store proximity information for a given NAN data cluster in an NDC attribute associated with that NAN data cluster. In various embodiments, two wireless communication devices may utilize/consider such proximity information in conjunction with assigning a newly-created NAN data link to a NAN data cluster. In some embodiments, two wireless communication devices may utilize/consider such proximity information in conjunction with transferring an extant NAN data link from one NAN data cluster to another NAN data cluster.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is related to and claims priority from U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/279,665, filed Jan. 15, 2016, the content ofwhich application are hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

Using Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) (also referred to as “Wi-FiAware”) discovery procedures, a wireless communication device may beable to discover other nearby devices and/or available services in amanner that involves relatively low power consumption. A group of suchdevices may form a cluster, and each device in the cluster may besynchronized to the same clock. Those devices may converge on a timeperiod and channel associated with a discovery window (DW) to facilitatethe discovery of each other's services. One major goal of Wi-Fi Aware2.0 (or NAN2) is to develop schemes wherein devices can transmit data toeach other without any infrastructure (e.g., AP). In particular, afterthe discovery process, two devices may form a NAN data link to transmitdata to each other. Each NAN data link may have a respective associatedNAN data link schedule (also referred to as “NDL schedule”). Further,multiple NAN data links may form a NAN data cluster (NDC), and there maybe a common schedule (also referred to as “NDC base schedule”) formanagement operations of the NAN data cluster. With respect to each NANdata link in a given NAN data cluster, the associated NDL schedule maycomprise a superset of the NDC base schedule for the NAN data cluster.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings form an integral part of the disclosure andare incorporated into the present specification. The drawings illustrateexample embodiments of the disclosure and, in conjunction with thedescription and claims, serve to explain at least in part variousprinciples, features, or aspects of the disclosure. Certain embodimentsof the disclosure are described more fully below with reference to theaccompanying drawings. However, various aspects of the disclosure can beimplemented in many different forms and should not be construed aslimited to the implementations set forth herein. Like numbers refer tolike elements throughout.

FIG. 1 presents an example of an operational environment for wirelesscommunication in accordance with one or more embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 2 presents another example of an operational environment inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 presents yet another example of an operational environment inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 presents still another example of an operational environment inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5A presents an example of a device in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5B presents an example of a radio unit for wireless communicationin accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 presents an example of a data structure in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 7A presents another example of an operational environment inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 7B presents yet another example of an operational environment inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 presents an example of a apparatus in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 presents another example of a device in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 10 presents another example of a device in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 11 presents another example of a device in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 presents an example method in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments may be generally directed to cluster managementtechniques for wireless data links. According to some such techniques, awireless communication device may maintain proximity information forconsideration in conjunction with assigning NAN data links to NAN dataclusters. In various embodiments, the proximity information may includeproximity information for one or more NAN data links and/or proximityinformation for one or more NAN data clusters. In some embodiments, awireless communication device may store proximity information for agiven NAN data link in an NDL attribute associated with that NAN datalink, and may store proximity information for a given NAN data clusterin an NDC attribute associated with that NAN data cluster. In variousembodiments, two wireless communication devices may utilize/considersuch proximity information in conjunction with assigning a newly-createdNAN data link to a NAN data cluster. In some embodiments, two wirelesscommunication devices may utilize/consider such proximity information inconjunction with transferring an existing NAN data link from one NANdata cluster to another NAN data cluster. Other embodiments aredescribed and claimed.

While various embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated inconnection with a network that operates according to Tread networkprotocols, it is noted that disclosure is not limited in this respectand embodiments of the disclosure can be implemented in any low-powernetwork having devices that operate at low power and can transitionbetween a power-sleep mode (or low-power mode) to a power-awake mode (orhigh-power mode) during operation within the network. Further, theelements described herein in connection with configuration of data linksin wireless networks, such as Thread networks, can be implemented in anytype of low-power networks operating according to protocols for wirelinecommunication and/or radio technology protocol for wirelesscommunication, not just Thread protocols. Embodiments described hereincan provide systems, methods, and devices, for signaling information toWi-Fi devices in various Wi-Fi networks, including Wi-Fi Aware™, alsoreferred to as neighbor awareness networking (NAN) network.

As illustrated and described herein, various embodiments may compriseone or more elements. An element may comprise any structure arranged toperform certain operations. Each element may be implemented as hardware,software, or any combination thereof, as desired for a given set ofdesign parameters or performance constraints. Although an embodiment maybe described with a limited number of elements in a certain topology byway of example, the embodiment may include more or less elements inalternate topologies as desired for a given implementation. It is worthyto note that any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” meansthat a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described inconnection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment.The appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in someembodiments,” and “in various embodiments” in various places in thespecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

With reference to the drawings, FIG. 1 presents a block diagram of anexample operational environment 100 for wireless communication inaccordance with at least certain aspects of the disclosure. Theoperational environment 100 includes several telecommunicationinfrastructures and communication devices, which collectively can embodyor otherwise constitute a telecommunication environment. Morespecifically, yet not exclusively, the telecommunication infrastructurescan include a satellite system 104. As described herein, the satellitesystem 104 can be embodied in or can include a global navigationsatellite system (GNSS), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS),Galileo, GLONASS (Globalnaya navigatsionnaya sputnikovaya sistema),BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), and/or the Quasi-ZenithSatellite System (QZSS). In addition, the telecommunicationinfrastructures can include a macro-cellular or large-cell system; whichis represented with three base stations 108 a-108 c; a micro-cellular orsmall-cell system, which is represented with three access points (orlow-power base stations) 114 a-114 c; and a sensor-based system—whichcan include proximity sensor(s), beacon device(s), pseudo-stationarydevice(s), and/or wearable device(s)—represented with functionalelements 116 a-116 c. As illustrated, in one implementation, each of thetransmitter(s), receiver(s), and/or transceiver(s) included inrespective computing devices (such as telecommunication infrastructure)can be functionally coupled (e.g., communicatively or otherwiseoperationally coupled) with the wireless device 110 a (also referred toas communication device 110 a) via wireless link(s) in accordance withspecific radio technology protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11ax,etc.) in accordance with aspects of this disclosure. For anotherexample, a base station (e.g., base station 108 a) can be functionallycoupled to the wireless devices 110 a, 110 b, and 110 c via respectivean upstream wireless link (UL) and a downstream link (DL) configured inaccordance with a radio technology protocol for macro-cellular wirelesscommunication (e.g., 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) or “3G,” “3G”; 3GPPLong Term Evolution (LTE), or LTE); LTE Advanced (LTE-A)). For yetanother example, an access point (e.g., access point (AP) device 114 a)can be functionally coupled to one or more of the wireless devices 110a, 110 b, or 110 c via a respective UL and DL configured in accordancewith a radio technology protocol for small-cell wireless communication(e.g., femtocell protocols, Wi-Fi, and the like). For still anotherexample, a beacon device (e.g., device 116 a) can be functionallycoupled to the wireless device 110 a with a UL-only (ULO), a DL-only, oran UL and DL, each of such wireless links (represented with open-headarrows) can be configured in accordance with a radio technology protocolfor point-to-point or short-range wireless communication (e.g., ZigBee®,Bluetooth®, or near field communication (NFC) standards, ultrasoniccommunication protocols, or the like).

In the operational environment 100, the small-cell system and/or thebeacon devices can be contained in a confined area 118 that can includean indoor region (e.g., a commercial facility, such as a shopping mall)and/or a spatially-confined outdoor region (such as an open or semi-openparking lot or garage). The small-cell system and/or the beacon devicescan provide wireless service to a device (e.g., wireless device 110 a or110 b) within the confined area 118. For instance, the wireless device110 a can handover from macro-cellular wireless service to wirelessservice provided by the small-cell system present within the confinedarea 118. Similarly, in certain scenarios, the macro-cellular system canprovide wireless service to a device (e.g., the wireless device 110 a)within the confined area 118.

In certain embodiments, the wireless device 110 a, as well as othercommunication devices (wireless or wireline) contemplated in the presentdisclosure, can include electronic devices having computationalresources, including processing resources (e.g., processor(s)), memoryresources (memory devices (also referred to as memory), andcommunication resources for exchange of information within the computingdevice and/or with other computing devices. Such resources can havedifferent levels of architectural complexity depending on specificdevice functionality. Exchange of information among computing devices inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure can be performed wirelessly asdescribed herein, and thus, in one aspect, the wireless device 110 aalso can be referred to as wireless communication device 110 a, wirelesscomputing device 110 a, communication device 110 a, or computing device110 a interchangeably. The same nomenclature considerations apply towireless device 110 b and wireless device 110 c. More generally, in thepresent disclosure, a communication device can be referred to as acomputing device and, in certain instances, the terminology“communication device” can be used interchangeably with the terminology“computing device,” unless context clearly dictates that a distinctionshould be made. In addition, a communication device (e.g., communicationdevice 110 a or 110 b or 110 c) that operates according to HEW canutilize or leverage a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) andrelated PLCP protocol data units (PPDUs) in order to transmit and/orreceive wireless communications. Example of the computing devices thatcan communicate wirelessly in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure can include desktop computers with wireless communicationresources; mobile computers, such as tablet computers, smartphones,notebook computers, laptop computers with wireless communicationresources, Ultrabook™ computers; gaming consoles, mobile telephones;blade computers; programmable logic controllers; near fieldcommunication devices; customer premises equipment with wirelesscommunication resources, such as set-top boxes, wireless router devices,wireless-enabled television sets, or the like; and so forth. Thewireless communication resources can include radio units (also referredto as radios) having circuitry for processing of wireless signals,processor(s), memory device(s), and the like, where the radio, theprocessor(s), and the memory device(s) can be coupled via a busarchitecture.

The computing devices included in the example operational environment100, as well as other computing devices contemplated in the presentdisclosure, can implement or otherwise perform the configuration of datalinks associated with a sleepy-end device (SED) or another type ofwireless device, as described herein. It is noted that other functionalelements (e.g., server devices, router devices, gateway devices, and thelike) can be included in the operational environment 100. It is alsonoted that the configuration of data links in accordance with aspects ofthis disclosure can be implemented in any telecommunication environmentincluding a wireline network (e.g., a cable network, aninternet-protocol (IP) network, an industrial control network, any widearea network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a personal area network(PAN), a home area network (HAN) (such as a sensor-based network) or thelike); a wireless network (e.g., a cellular network (either small-cellnetwork or macro-cell network), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a wireless LAN(WLAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), a wireless HAN, such as a wirelesssensor-based network, a satellite network, or the like); a combinationthereof; or the like.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of an operational environment 200 inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. Theoperational environment 200 includes a mesh network 220 having devicesthat can operate according to Thread protocols and/or any othercommunication protocols suitable for, among other things, IP-basedcommunication (e.g., IPv6 protocol), low-power, secure, low-latency(e.g., less than about 100 ms) and/or scalable operation of the devices(e.g., smartphones, tablet computers, appliances, sensors, locks, andthe like). The devices can include, in some embodiments; appliances;devices for access control (e.g., locks); devices for climate control(e.g., temperature sensors, heaters, refrigeration devices, etc.);devices for energy management; lamps, light bulbs, or other type ofdevices for lightning; devices for safety (e.g., cameras) and or othertypes of security (e.g., alarms). Some of the devices can be powered viaa conventional power grid, other devices can be powered via acombination between power grid and battery or other type of energystorage, and yet other devices can be powered via batteries or elementsfor energy harvesting. At least some of the devices included in the meshnetwork 220 also can communicate according to other protocols, such asWi-Fi protocols, beyond Thread protocols or NAN protocols. In someimplementations, the mesh network 220 is functionally coupled to an APdevice 210 that permits functional coupling with one or more externalnetworks 250 (such as the Internet or another type of WAN/WWAN). One ormore devices within the mesh network 220 can permit functional couplingbetween the mesh network 220 and the AP device 210, each of the one ormore devices can be referred to as border router device (or borderrouter). In some embodiments, Wi-Fi wireless links can permit exchangeof information between the AP device 220 and the one or more borderrouters. In other embodiments, other types of wireless links (e.g.,femtocell wireless links) or wireline links (e.g., Ethernet links) canpermit communication between the one or more border router devices andthe AP device 210. As illustrated, in the operational environment 200,border routers 222 a and 222 b can be functionally coupled to AP device210 via Wi-Fi links 205 a and 205 b, respectively. A border router canbe functionally coupled to one or more devices within the mesh network220, at least one of the devices coupled to the border router can bereferred to as a router node or router device. Other device(s) coupledto the border router can be a leaf node (e.g., a SED). Border routerdevices can provide services, such as routing services for off-networkoperations, for devices within the mesh network 220.

A router device can provide routing services to devices within the meshnetwork 220. In addition or in the alternative, a router device canprovide joining services and/or security services for a device thatattempts to join the mesh network 220. As opposed to SEDs, a router isnot configured to enter a power-off mode or other type of low-powerstate. The exemplified operational environment includes five routerdevices 224 a-224 d. In some embodiments, border router devices androuter devices can exchange information according to Thread protocols.In one example, wireless links pertaining to a Thread WPAN (such as 6Lolinks) can permit communication of network data and/or network signalingbetween such devices. Such links are represented as solid lines in FIG.2.

In addition, a router device (e.g., router device 224 b) can be coupledto one or more leaf nodes (or leaf devices) within the mesh network 220.In one implementation, a lead node can be referred to as a SED. A leafnode (or SED) can be embodied in or can include a host device, and cancommunicate via a parent router device associated with the lead node. Assuch, the leaf node cannot forward messages to another lead node. Theillustrated operational environment 200 includes seven leaf nodes 226a-226 g. In some embodiments, wireless links pertaining to a Thread WPAN(such as 6Lo Sleepy links) can permit communication of network dataand/or network signaling between a router device and a leaf node. Suchwireless links are represented with dashed lines in FIG. 2. A leaf node(or SED) can be powered via a battery or other type of energy storageand supply device. In addition or in some embodiments, a leaf node canbe powered via a device that permits harvesting energy (e.g., a solarpanel, a turbine, geothermal energy conversion devices, etc.). Leafnodes can include one or more of thermostats; light switches; smokedetectors; carbon monoxide detectors; display devices; door bells;intrusion sensors; automated cleaning devices; door sensors or othertype of presence sensors; actuation sensors (e.g., window, door, etc.);motion sensors; door locks; radiator valves; biometric devices; fans;smart plugs; smart meters or other types of dosimeter devices;appliances; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment;a combination of the foregoing, or the like.

FIG. 3 presents an example of an operational environment 300 inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. Asillustrated, the operational environment 300 includes a device 302 and adevice 304 that can communicate wirelessly, e.g., each of the devices302 and 304 can send and/or receive information wirelessly. Morespecifically, in some aspects, the device 302 and the device 304 maydiscover each other by exchanging wireless communications according to adevice discovery protocol. In some embodiments, the device discoveryprotocol may comprise a NAN device discovery procedure. In various suchembodiments, the devices 302 and 304 may also engage in a NAN servicediscovery procedure, according to which one or both of the devices 302and 304 may discover one or more services offered by the other device.

In addition or in some embodiments, the devices 302 and 304 cancommunicate according to a radio technology protocol that enables suchdevices to exchange information directly (e.g., point-to-point), ratherthan exchanging the information via intermediary infrastructure, such asan AP device. In some embodiments, the radio technology protocol caninclude a NAN2 data communication protocol. As such, in some aspects,following discovery, the devices 302 and 304 may exchange wirelesscommunications in order to establish a data link (e.g., a NAN data link)306 between devices 302 and 304. In some embodiments, the devices 302and 304 may establish the data link 306 by performing operations(including communications, for example) in accordance with one or moreNAN2 procedures for the establishment of a NAN data link.

As an illustration, in some embodiments, according to the NAN2 datacommunication protocol, an NDL schedule may be defined or otherwiseestablished for the data link 306. In some embodiments, according tosuch a radio technology protocol for wireless communication of data, itmay be possible to associate multiple NAN data links with a same NANdata cluster. In various embodiments, the data link 306 (e.g., a NANdata link) may be assigned to a data path group 308 associated with acluster of devices including the devices 302 and 304. The data pathgroup 308 can be embodied in or can include, for example, a NAN datacluster. In some embodiments, according to the data communicationscheme, an NDC base schedule may be defined or otherwise adopted for thedata path group 308 (e.g., a NAN data cluster). In various embodiments,according to the NAN2 data communication protocol, a separate respectiveNDL schedule may be defined or otherwise adopted for each NAN data linkassociated with the data path group 308. In some embodiments, each ofthe respective NDL schedules may comprise a superset of the NDC baseschedule for data path group 308. In various embodiments, according tothe NAN2 data communication protocol, synchronization may need to bemaintained among all of the devices that communicate via NAN data linksof a NAN data cluster or another type of data path group associated witha cluster of wireless devices. In such embodiments, synchronization mayneed to be maintained between the devices 302 and 304, as well asbetween both the device 302 and the device 304 and each other devicethat may communicate via another data link (e.g., a NAN data link; notshown) associated with the data path group 308.

FIG. 4 presents an example of an operational environment 400 inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. In someaspects, wireless communication within the operational environment 400can include synchronization among some or all of the devices thatcommunicate via data links (e.g., NAN data links) of a data path group(e.g., a NAN data cluster). In operational environment 400, the device302 may perform a discovery process with a device 410, and the devices302 and 410 may then establish a data link 412 and associate it with thedata path group 308. Since the device 410 can communicate via the datalink 412, the association of the data link 412 with the data path group308 may rely on or otherwise may necessitate that tight synchronizationbe maintained between the device 410 and both of devices 302 and 304.However, in some aspects, if devices 410 and 304 are located outside ofeach other's respective wireless communications ranges 411 and 405, thenmulti-hop management communications via the device 302 may be requiredin order to maintain tight synchronization between device 410 and device304. In addition or in other aspects, multi-hop managementcommunications may be required in conjunction with maintenance of theNDC base schedule or another type of base schedule for the data cluster308, resulting in increased complexity. In cases in which some devicesin a data path group (e.g., a NAN data cluster) are not within wirelesscommunication range of other devices within the data path group, thenumber of slots for common schedule operation in the data path group mayshrink due to differences in the scheduling constraints to which devicesin various remotely-spaced regions of the data path group may besubject.

As mentioned, embodiments of this disclosure can permit configuration ofdata links associated with a data path group in a wireless network, suchas a low-power wireless network. According to some of such embodiments,devices, such as devices 302, 304, and 410, can be configured to accessand/or to retain proximity information that can be utilized or otherwiseleveraged in the assignment of a data link to a data path group. Asdescribed herein, in some embodiments, the data link can be embodied inor can include a NAN data link, and the data path group can be embodiedin or can include a NAN data cluster (NDC). In various embodiments, theproximity information that a device can retain may include proximityinformation for one or more NAN data links and/or proximity informationfor one or more NAN data clusters. In some embodiments, a device maystore proximity information for a given NAN data link in an NDLattribute associated with that NAN data link, and/or may store proximityinformation for a given NAN data cluster in an NDC attribute associatedwith that NAN data cluster. In various embodiments, two devices mayutilize/consider such proximity information in conjunction withassigning a newly-created NAN data link to a NAN data cluster. In someembodiments, two devices may utilize/consider such proximity informationin conjunction with transferring an existing NAN data link from one NANdata cluster to another NAN data cluster.

FIG. 5A illustrates a block diagram of an example embodiment of a device510 in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. Theexemplified device 510 can operate in accordance with at least someaspects of the disclosure, configuring data path groups as describedherein, for example. As mentioned, in some embodiments, the device 510can embody or can constitute any one of the devices in a data path groupassociated with a cluster of devices in accordance with this disclosure.Similarly, in other embodiments, the device 510 can embody or canconstitute a device in a low-power mesh network, such as the examplemesh network 220 in FIG. 2. As such, the device 510 can embody a borderrouter device, a router device, a leader device, or a SED. In yet otherembodiments, the device 510 can embody or can constitute the AP device310 or any of the devices in the operational environment 100 shown inFIG. 1 or the operational environment 200 shown in FIG. 2. As such, insome aspects, the device 510 can provide one or more specificfunctionalities—such as operating as a digital camera and generatingdigital images (e.g., static pictures and/or motion pictures); operatingas a navigation device; operating as a biometric device (e.g., a heartrate monitor, a pressure monitor, a glucometer, an iris analyzer, afingerprint analyzer, etc.); dosing and delivering an amount of a drugor other compound; operating as a sensor and sensing a defined physicalquantity, such as temperature and/or pressure, or motion; operating asanother sensor and sensing a compound in gas phase or liquid phase;operating as a controller for configuring a second defined physicalquantity, managing energy, managing access to an environment, managingillumination and/or sound, regulating a defined process, such anautomation control process, or the like; generating current, voltage, orother type of signal via inductive coils; a combination of theforegoing; a derivative functionality of the foregoing; or the like. Tothat end, the device 510 can include one or more functionality units 522(referred to as dedicated functionality unit 522) that can includeoptical elements (e.g., lenses, collimators, light guides, lightsources, light detectors (such as semiconductor light detectors),focusing circuitry, etc.); temperature sensors; pressure sensors; gassensors; motion sensors, including inertial sensors (such as linearaccelerator and/or a gyroscope); mechanical actuators (such as locks,valves, and the like); a combination of the foregoing; or the like.

In addition or in other aspects, a specific functionality of the device510 can be provided or otherwise implemented via one or more processors524. In some implementations, at least one of the processor(s) 524 canbe integrated with dedicated functionality unit 522. In someimplementations, at least one of the processor(s) (e.g., one or more ofthe processor(s) 524 or other processor(s)) can receive and operate ondata and/or other type of information (e.g., analog signals) generatedby components of the dedicated functionality unit 522. The at least oneprocessor can execute a module in order to operate on the data and/orother type of information and, as a result, provide a definedfunctionality. The module can be embodied in or can include, forexample, a software application stored in a memory device integratedinto or functionally coupled to the device. For instance, the module canbe retained in one or more memory devices 532 (collectively referred toas dedicated functionality storage 532), where the dedicatedfunctionality storage 532 can be retained within one or more othermemory devices 530 (collectively referred to as device 530). In additionor in other implementations, at least a second one of the processor(s)(e.g., one or more of processor(s) 524 or other processor(s) availableto the dedicated functionality unit 522) can control the operation orduty cycle of a portion of the dedicated functionality unit 522 so as tocollect data and/or other type of information; provide an amount (or adose) of a compound or acquire another amount of another compound ormaterial; a combination of the foregoing; or the like. At least one ofthe units that constitute the dedicated functionality unit 522 cangenerate control signals (e.g., interruptions, alarms, or the like)and/or can cause the device 510 to transition between operational statesin response to a defined condition of the device 510 or its environment.At least some of the control signals can be sent to an external device(not depicted in FIG. 5A) via an I/O interface of the I/O interfaces520. The type and/or number of components included in the dedicatedfunctionality unit 522 can establish, at least in part, the complexityof the device 510. In some examples, the device 510 can embody or canconstitute an AP device, and in other examples, the device 510 canembody or can constitute a SED or another type of IoT device.

The device 510 also can operate as a wireless device and can embody orcan constitute an access point device, a mobile computing device (e.g.,a station device or user equipment), or other types of communicationdevices that can transmit and/or receive wireless communications inaccordance with this disclosure. In some aspects, to permit wirelessoperation—including the exchange of information associated withconfiguration of a data path group, as described herein—the device 510includes a radio unit 514, a communication unit 526, and adata-path-group configuration unit 528. In some implementations, thecommunication unit 526 can generate packets and/or other types ofinformation blocks via a network stack, for example, and can convey thepackets and/or the other types of information blocks to the radio unit514 for wireless communication. In one embodiment, the network stack(not shown) can be embodied in or can constitute a library or othertypes of programming modules, and the communication unit 526 can executethe network stack in order to generate a packet or other types ofinformation block. Generation of the packet or the other types ofinformation blocks can include, for example, generation of controlinformation (e.g., checksum data, communication address(es)), trafficinformation (e.g., payload data), and/or formatting of such informationinto a specific packet header.

The data-path-group configuration unit 528 can perform or otherwisefacilitate, at least in part, the configuration of a data link inaccordance with aspects of this disclosure, as described herein. To thatend, in some embodiments, the data link configuration 528 can include anumber of components that can utilize or otherwise leverage information(e.g., data, metadata, and/or instructions) first information definingor otherwise specifying implementations of one or more mechanisms forconfiguration of a data link and/or second information indicative ofrules, records, or other data associated with such implementations inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure. In some instances, the firstinformation and the second information can be retained in one or morememory elements 534 (collectively referred to as data link configurationinformation 534) within one or more memory devices 530 (collectivelyreferred to as memory 530). In addition or in other implementations, thefirst information and/or the second information can be retained withinone or more other memory devices integrated into the data linkconfiguration unit 528. The data-path-group configuration unit 528 alsocan utilize or otherwise leverage, in other embodiments, thecommunication unit 526 in order to configure a data link in accordancewith aspects of this disclosure, as described herein.

As illustrated in FIG. 5A, the data link information 534 can include,for example, proximity information 536 that can be utilized or otherwiseleveraged in the configuration of a data link, e.g., a selection of NANdata clusters to which a NAN data link can be assigned. In someembodiments, proximity information 536 can include proximity informationassociated with one or more data links (or, in some instances, datapaths), such as NAN data links. In addition or in other embodiments, theproximity information 536 can include proximity information associatedwith one or more data path groups associated with respective clusters ofdevices (e.g., NAN data clusters). In some aspects, at least a portionof the proximity information 536 can be associated with a specific datalink. Examples of an element of proximity information 314 according tosome embodiments may include a received signal strength indicator(RSSI); a distance or range estimate of another device remotely locatedwith respect to the device 510; a location estimate of the other device;and/or channel information, such as a channel path loss measurements.Other information representative of a physical separation of the device510 from another device (not depicted in FIG. 5A) also can be includedin the proximity information 534.

In various embodiments, the proximity information 534 may include linkproximity information 538. In some embodiments, link proximityinformation 538 can include information indicative or otherwiserepresentative of proximities associated with one or more NAN data linksover which the device 510 can communicate. In various embodiments, linkproximity information 538 may include respective link proximityinformation for each NAN data link of wireless communication device 510.In some embodiments, the device 510 can retain a portion of the linkproximity information 538 associated with a NAN data link in anattribute associated with the NAN data link. In various embodiments, anelement of the link proximity information 538 associated with a datalink (e.g., a NAN data link) established with a remote device can beembodied in or can include a received signal strength indicator (e.g.,RSSI) for one or more wireless signals received from the remote device.In addition or in other embodiments, an element of the link proximityinformation 538 associated with a NAN data link established with aremote device may indicate a channel loss or data path loss between thedevice 510 and the remote device. Further or in yet other embodiments,an element of the link proximity information 538 associated with a NANdata link established with a remote device may indicate an estimateddistance between wireless communication device 302 and that neighboringdevice. In some scenarios, the estimated distance can be determinedusing at least a ranging mechanism. The ranging mechanism can beimplemented, for example, by the dedicated functionality unit 522.Furthermore or in other embodiments, an element of the link proximityinformation 538 associated with a data link (e.g., a NAN data link)established with a remote device may indicate an estimated location ofthe remote device. As mentioned, in one scenario, the estimated locationcan be determined using at least a ranging mechanism or other types oflocation mechanism.

As further illustrated in FIG. 5A, the proximity information 536 mayinclude data path group proximity information 540. In some embodiments,at least a portion of the data path group proximity information 540 canbe indicative or otherwise representative of proximities associated withone or more data path groups (e.g., NAN data clusters) that can includethe device 510. In some aspects, each (or in some embodiments, at leastone) of such data path groups may be embodied in or may include a NANdata cluster to which one or more NAN data links of the device 510 havebeen assigned. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the data pathgroup proximity information 540 may include respective cluster proximityinformation for each (or in some embodiments, at least one) NAN datacluster to which at least one NAN data link of the device 510 has beenassigned. In various embodiments, the device 510 may retain the datapath group proximity information 540 associated with any given NAN datacluster in an NDC attribute associated with the NAN data cluster.

As illustrated in FIG. 5B, the radio unit 514 can include one or moreantennas 516 and a multi-mode communication processing unit 518. In someembodiments, the antenna(s) 516 can be embodied in or can includedirectional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipoleantennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstripantennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RFsignals. In addition, or in other embodiments, at least some of theantenna(s) 516 can be physically separated to leverage spatial diversityand related different channel characteristics associated with suchdiversity. Further or in yet other embodiments, the multi-modecommunication processing unit 518 that can process at least wirelesssignals in accordance with one or more radio technology protocols and/ormodes (such as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO),single-input-multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input-single-output(MISO), and the like). Each of such protocol(s) can be configured tocommunicate (e.g., transmit, receive, or exchange) data, metadata,and/or signaling over a specific air interface. The one or more radiotechnology protocols can include, for example, 3GPP UMTS; LTE; LTE-A;Wi-Fi protocols, such as those of the Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards; WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX); radio technologies andrelated protocols for ad hoc networks, such as Bluetooth® or ZigBee®;other protocols for packetized wireless communication; or the like). Themulti-mode communication processing unit 418 also can processnon-wireless signals (analogic, digital, a combination thereof, or thelike).

In some embodiments, e.g., example embodiment 550 shown in FIG. 5B, themulti-mode communication processing unit 518 can comprise a set of oneor more transmitters/receivers 554, and components therein (amplifiers,filters, analog-to-digital (A/D) converters, etc.), functionally coupledto a multiplexer/demultiplexer (mux/demux) unit 568, amodulator/demodulator (mod/demod) unit 566 (also referred to as modem516), and a coder/decoder unit 512 (also referred to as codec 512). Each(or, in some instances, at least one) of the transmitter(s)/receiver(s)can form respective transceiver(s) that can transmit and receivewireless signal (e.g., electromagnetic radiation) via the one or moreantennas 516. It is noted that in other embodiments, the multi-modecommunication processing unit 518 can include, for example, otherfunctional elements, such as one or more control units (e.g., a memorycontroller), an offload engine or unit, I/O interfaces, basebandprocessing circuitry, a combination of the foregoing, or the like. Whileillustrated as separate blocks in the device 510, it is noted that insome embodiments, at least a portion of the multi-mode communicationprocessing unit 518, the communication unit 526, and/or data-path-groupconfiguration unit can be integrated into a single unit—e.g., a singlechipset or other type of solid state circuitry. In some aspects, such asingle unit can be configured by programmed instructions retained inmemory 530 and/or other memory devices integrated into or otherwisefunctionally coupled to the single unit.

Electronic components and associated circuitry, such as mux/demux unit558, codec 562, and modem 566 can permit or otherwise facilitateprocessing and manipulation, e.g., coding/decoding, deciphering, and/ormodulation/demodulation, of signal(s) received by the device 510 andsignal(s) to be transmitted by the device 510. In some aspects, asdescribed herein, received and transmitted wireless signals can bemodulated and/or coded, or otherwise processed, in accordance with oneor more radio technology protocols. Such radio technology protocol(s)can include, for example, 3GPP UMTS; 3GPP LTE; LTE-A; Wi-Fi protocols,such as IEEE 802.11 family of standards (IEEE 802.ac, IEEE 802.ax, andthe like); IEEE 802.15.4; WiMAX; radio technologies and relatedprotocols for ad hoc networks, such as Bluetooth® or ZigBee®; otherprotocols for packetized wireless communication; or the like.

The electronic components in the multi-mode communication processingunit 518, including the one or more transmitters/receivers 554, canexchange information (e.g., data, metadata, code instructions, signalingand related payload data, combinations thereof, or the like) through abus 564, which can embody or can include at least one of a system bus,an address bus, a data bus, a message bus, a reference link orinterface, a combination of the foregoing, or the like. Each (or, insome embodiments, at least one) of the one or morereceivers/transmitters 554 can convert signal from analog to digital andvice versa. In addition or in the alternative, thereceiver(s)/transmitter(s) 554 can divide a single data stream intomultiple parallel data streams, or perform the reciprocal operation.Such operations may be conducted as part of various multiplexingschemes. As illustrated, the mux/demux unit 558 is functionally coupledto the one or more receivers/transmitters 554 and can permit processingof signals in time and frequency domain. In some aspects, the mux/demuxunit 558 can multiplex and demultiplex information (e.g., data,metadata, and/or signaling) according to various multiplexing schemessuch as time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency divisionmultiplexing (FDM), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM),code division multiplexing (CDM), space division multiplexing (SDM). Inaddition or in the alternative, in another aspect, the mux/demux unit558 can scramble and spread information (e.g., codes) according to mostany code, such as Hadamard-Walsh codes, Baker codes, Kasami codes,polyphase codes, and the like. The modem 566 can modulate and demodulateinformation (e.g., data, metadata, signaling, or a combination thereof)according to various modulation techniques, such as frequency modulation(e.g., frequency-shift keying), amplitude modulation (e.g., M-aryquadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), with M a positive integer;amplitude-shift keying (ASK)), phase-shift keying (PSK), and the like).In addition, processor(s) that can be included in the device 510—e.g.,processor(s) 524, or baseband processing circuitry or other type ofcomputing circuitry included in the radio unit 514 or other functionalelement(s) of the device 510—can permit processing data (e.g., symbols,bits, or chips) for multiplexing/demultiplexing, modulation/demodulation(such as implementing direct and inverse fast Fourier transforms)selection of modulation rates, selection of data packet formats,inter-packet times, and the like.

The codec 562 can operate on information (e.g., data, metadata,signaling, or a combination thereof) in accordance with one or morecoding/decoding schemes suitable for communication, at least in part,through the one or more transceivers formed from respectivetransmitter(s)/receiver(s) 554. In one aspect, such coding/decodingschemes, or related procedure(s), can be retained as computer-accessibleinstructions (computer-readable instructions, computer-executableinstructions, or a combination thereof) in one or more memory devices534 (collectively referred to as memory 434) and/or other memory deviceintegrated into or otherwise functionally coupled to the radio unit 514.In a scenario in which wireless communication among the device 510 andanother computing device (e.g., a station device, other types of userequipment, or customer premises equipment) utilizes MIMO, MISO, SIMO, orSISO operation, the codec 562 can implement at least one of space-timeblock coding (STBC) and associated decoding, or space-frequency block(SFBC) coding and associated decoding. In addition or in otherscenarios, the codec 562 can extract information from data streams codedin accordance with spatial multiplexing scheme. In some aspects, todecode received information (e.g., data, metadata, signaling, or acombination thereof), the codec 562 can implement at least one ofcomputation of log-likelihood ratios (LLR) associated with constellationrealization for a specific demodulation; maximal ratio combining (MRC)filtering, maximum-likelihood (ML) detection, successive interferencecancellation (SIC) detection, zero forcing (ZF) and minimum mean squareerror estimation (MMSE) detection, or the like. The codec 562 canutilize, at least in part, mux/demux unit 558 and mod/demod unit 566 tooperate in accordance with aspects described herein.

With further reference to FIG. 5A, the device 510 can operate in avariety of wireless environments having wireless signals conveyed indifferent electromagnetic radiation (EM) frequency bands. To at leastsuch end, the multi-mode communication processing unit 518 in accordancewith aspects of the disclosure can process (code, decode, format, etc.)wireless signals within a set of one or more EM frequency bands (alsoreferred to as frequency bands) comprising one or more of radiofrequency (RF) portions of the EM spectrum, microwave portion(s) of theEM spectrum, or infrared (IR) portion(s) of the EM spectrum. In oneaspect, the set of one or more frequency bands can include, for example,at least one of (i) all or most licensed EM frequency bands, (such asthe industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, including the 2.4GHz band or the 5 GHz bands); or (ii) all or most unlicensed frequencybands (such as the 60 GHz band) currently available fortelecommunication.

As described herein, the device 510 can receive and/or transmitinformation encoded and/or modulated or otherwise processed inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. To at least such anend, in some embodiments, the device 510 can acquire or otherwise accessinformation wirelessly via the radio unit 514 (which also may bereferred to as radio 514), where at least a portion of such informationcan be encoded and/or modulated in accordance with aspects describedherein. Therefore, in some implementations, the memory 530 also cancontain one or more memory elements having information suitable forprocessing information received according to a predeterminedcommunication protocol (e.g., IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ax, IEEE802.15.4). While not shown, in some embodiments, one or more memoryelements (e.g., registers, filed, databases, combinations thereof, orthe like) of the memory 434 can include, for example,computer-accessible instructions that can be executed by one or more ofthe functional elements (units, components, circuitry, etc.) of thedevice 510 in order to implement at least some of the functionality forconfiguration of data path groups in a wireless network, in accordancewith aspects described herein. One or more groups of suchcomputer-accessible instructions can embody or can constitute aprogramming interface that can permit communication of information(e.g., data, metadata, and/or signaling) between functional elements ofthe device 510 for implementation of such functionality.

As further illustrated in FIG. 5A, the device 510 can include one ormore I/O interfaces 520. At least one of the I/O interface(s) 520 canpermit the exchange of information between the device 510 and anothercomputing device and/or a storage device. Such an exchange can bewireless (e.g., via near field communication or optically-switchedcommunication) or wireline. At least another one of the I/O interface(s)520 can permit presenting information visually, aurally, and/or viamovement to an end-user of the device 510. In one example, a hapticdevice can embody the I/O interface of the I/O interface(s) 520 thatpermit conveying information via movement. In addition, in theillustrated device 510, a bus architecture 542 (which also may bereferred to as bus 542) can permit the exchange of information (e.g.,data, metadata, and/or signaling) between two or more functionalelements of the device 510. For instance, the bus 542 can permitexchange of information between two or more of (i) the radio unit 514 ora functional element therein, (ii) at least one of the I/O interface(s)520, (iii) the communication unit 526, or (iv) the memory 534. Inaddition, one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) (notdepicted in FIG. 5A) or other types of programming interfaces that canpermit exchange of information (e.g., data and/or metadata) between twoor more of the functional elements of the device 510. At least one ofsuch API(s) can be retained or otherwise stored in the memory 534. Insome embodiments, it is noted that at least one of the API(s) or otherprogramming interfaces can permit the exchange of information withincomponents of the communication unit 526. The bus 542 also can permit asimilar exchange of information. In some embodiments, the bus 552 canembody or can include, for example, at least one of a system bus, anaddress bus, a data bus, a message bus, a reference link or interface, acombination thereof, or the like. In addition or in other embodiments,the bus 552 can include, for example, components for wireline andwireless communication.

It is noted that portions of the device 510 can embody or can constitutean apparatus. For instance, the multi-mode communication processing unit518, the communication unit 526, the data-path-group configuration unit528, and at least a portion of the memory 434 can embody or canconstitute an apparatus that can operate in accordance with one or moreaspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an attribute 600 that can be utilizedby a communication device to store cluster proximity information for adata path group (e.g., a NAN data cluster) in accordance with one ormore embodiments. The exemplified attribute 600 can include severalfields (e.g., a first field, a second field, a third field, etc.) havingrespective sizes (e.g., a number of octets) and respective values (e.g.,hexadecimal values). Specifically, the attribute 600 can include anAttribute Identification (ID) field 410 that can identify a general datapath group attribute (e.g., an NDC attribute). The Attribute ID field610 can have a size of one octet and a variable value. The fields in theattribute 400 also can include a Length field 620 having a size of twooctets and variable length, where the Length field 620 can be indicativeof the lengths of subsequent fields in the attribute 600. In addition orin other implementations, the Length field 620 can include a valueindicative of a length of attribute 600. In addition, the fields in theattribute 600 can include a Cluster ID field 630 that can identify adata path group (e.g., an NDC) associated with the attribute 600. Inaddition or in some embodiments, the attribute 600 can include a ClusterBase Schedule field 640 that can be indicative of a base schedule of thedata path group identified by the Cluster ID field 630. Further or insome embodiments, as illustrated, the attribute 600 can include aCluster Proximity Information field 650 that can include clusterproximity information associated with the data path group identified bythe Cluster ID field 630 and/or with another data path group to whichthe attribute 600 corresponds. It is noted that the disclosure is notlimited to the illustrated fields and/or to the particular illustratedarrangement of field. In some embodiments the attribute 600 can includemore than five fields or less than five fields, where a field of theattribute 600 includes information indicative or otherwiserepresentative of proximity information of a data path group associatedwith the attribute 600.

With further reference to FIG. 5A, in various embodiments, the device510 may determine data path group proximity information 540 associatedwith a given data path group (e.g., a NAN data cluster) as a function ofat least a portion of the link proximity information 538 for data linksof a data path group (e.g., NAN data cluster). In some aspects, the datalink configuration unit 528 can determine (e.g., compute or otherwiseestimate) a value of such a function. In one example, the function cancorrespond to a minimum function that yields a minimum value of a set ofvalues provided as an argument. Thus, the value determined by the datalink configuration unit 528 can be the minimum value of valuescorresponding to proximity information across the NAN data links.Similarly, in another example, the function can correspond to a maximumfunction that yield a maximum value of a set of values provided as anargument. Thus, the value determined by the data link configuration unit528 can be the maximum value of values corresponding to proximityinformation across the NAN data links. Therefore, in some aspects, thedata link configuration unit 528 can determine, using at least a portionof the link proximity information 538 corresponding to a defined NANdata cluster, a maximum observed RSSI with respect to a group of NANdata links of the NAN data cluster. In addition or in other aspects, thedata link configuration unit 528 can determine, using at least a portionof the cluster proximity information 538 corresponding to the definedNAN data cluster, a minimum estimated distance value with respect to thegroup of NAN data links of the NAN data cluster. Further or in yet otheraspects, the data link configuration unit 528 can determine a mean RSSIvalue for a first data link (e.g., a first NAN data link) and a seconddata link (e.g., a second NAN data link) from the perspective of thedevice 510.

It is noted that in various embodiments, the device 510 can associateproximity information to a data link and/or a data path group. In someembodiments, the device 510 can generate a data link attribute having afield indicative or otherwise representative of at least a portion ofthe proximity information. Similarly, the device 510 can generate a datapath group attribute (e.g., an NDC attribute) having a field indicativeor otherwise representative of at least the portion of the proximityinformation. In addition or in other embodiments, for example, thedevice 510 may privately store proximity information for a data link ina record (e.g., a data object or a data structure) for the data link. Invarious embodiments, such stored proximity information may then beassigned to an established NAN data link associated with that particulardata link.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example of an operational environment 700 thatmay be representative of the implementation of one or more of thedisclosed functionalities for configuration of data links in wirelessnetworks in accordance with one or more embodiments. In the operationalenvironment 700, devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ may negotiate with each otherin order to identify a data path group (e.g., a NAN data cluster) towhich to assign a data link (e.g., a NAN data link) 706. In variousembodiments, each of the devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ may retain or otherwisemaintain respective proximity information 714 ₁ and 714 ₂, which may bethe same as or similar to proximity information 536 disclosed inconnection with FIG. 5A. In some embodiments, devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂may exchange portions of proximity information 714 ₁ and 714 ₂separately or in conjunction with negotiating the assignment of the datalink 706 to a data path group. In various embodiments, proximityinformation 714 ₁ and 714 ₂ may include respective link proximityinformation 716 ₁ and 716 ₂, which may be the same as or similar to linkproximity information 538 disclosed in connection with FIG. 5A. In someembodiments, proximity information 714 ₁ and 714 ₂ may includerespective data path group proximity information 718 ₁ and 718 ₂, whichmay be the same as or similar to cluster proximity information 540disclosed in connection with FIG. 5A.

In various embodiments, each of the devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ can includesimilar elements to those of device 510 disclosed in connection withFIG. 5A; elements such as processor(s) 524, memory 530, radio unit 514,communication unit 526, and data link configuration unit 528. As such,in some aspects, device 702 ₁ may identify a set of one or morecandidate clusters 720 ₁, and device 702 ₂ may identify a set of one ormore candidate clusters 720 ₂. To that end, in one example, each of thedevices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ can leverage a data link configuration unit thatcan identify such candidate clusters. The data link configuration unitcan be embodied in or can constitute the data link configuration unit528. In some embodiments, candidate clusters 720 ₁ may include each datapath group (e.g., NAN data cluster) to which the device 702 ₁ belongsupon or after creation of the data link (e.g., a NAN data link) 706between the device 702 ₁ and the device 702 ₂. Similarly, candidateclusters 720 ₂ may include each data path group (e.g., NAN data cluster)to which the device 7022 belongs upon or after creation of the data link(e.g., NAN data link) 706 between the device 702 ₁ and the device 702 ₂.Proximity information (e.g., RSSI values, ranging distance values, etc.)for each of the data path groups in the candidate cluster(s) 720 ₁ andcandidate cluster(s) 720 ₂ can be available, respectively, in proximityinformation 714 ₁ and proximity information 714 ₂. As described herein,proximity information associated with the data link 706 prior to orafter the negotiation process for the generation of the data link 706also can be available in the proximity information 714 ₁ and/orproximity information 714 ₂.

Selection or identification of a candidate cluster can be accomplishedaccording to one or more selection criteria, including proximitycriteria and/or scheduling criteria. As such, in some scenarios, a datapath group (e.g., a NAN data cluster) may be excluded from candidateclusters 720 ₁ and/or 720 ₂ based at least on a defined proximitycriteria or a combination of proximity criteria. In some embodiments,for example, candidate clusters 720 ₁ and 720 ₂ may include data NANdata clusters for which the associated NDC base schedules constitutesubsets of the NDL schedule for the data link 706. In addition or inanother example, in various embodiments, candidate clusters 720 ₁ and720 ₂ may include data path groups (e.g., NAN data clusters) for whichthe associated proximity information satisfies a threshold, such as anRSSI threshold, a distance threshold, a channel path loss threshold, apath loss threshold, a combination of two or more of the foregoingthresholds, or the like. Further or in yet another example, in someembodiments, both of candidate clusters 720 ₁ and 720 ₂ may include datapath groups (e.g., NAN data clusters) that are common to devices 702 ₁and 702 ₂.

In various embodiments, upon or after determining candidate clusters 720₁ and 720 ₂, the devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ may advertise (e.g., broadcast,multicast, unicast, or otherwise communicate) candidate clusters 720 ₁and 720 ₂ to each other individually or in conjunction with negotiatingthe assignment of the data link 706 to a data path group. In someembodiments, rather than advertising multiple candidate clusters to eachother, devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ may each advertise a single data pathgroup to the other. In some aspects, the data path group that isadvertised can satisfy a defined proximity criterion or another definedselection rule. In one example, the devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ may identifyand advertise respective data path groups (e.g., NAN data clusters)having satisfactory (e.g., the highest, the second highest, etc.) RSSIsor smallest inter-device distance estimates. In another example, thedevices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ may identify and advertise their closestrespective NAN data clusters that feature NDC base schedules thatconstitute subsets of the NDL schedule for NAN data link 706.

In various embodiments, in negotiating the assignment of the data link706 to a data path group, devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ may assign the datalink 706 to a data path group that satisfies a defined selectioncriterion (e.g., a proximity criterion) from among candidate data pathgroups. In addition or in other embodiments, the data path group that isassigned to the data link 706 may be randomly selected from among thecandidate data path groups. As such, in some scenarios, the data pathgroup that is assigned to the data link 706 can be have a closestproximity metric, such as a highest RSSI or smallest distance estimate,from among the candidate data path groups. In some embodiments, thedefined selection criterion can be embodied in or can include aproximity threshold. Thus, in some implementations, in order to selectan assignee data path group, the devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ may apply theproximity threshold, such as an RSSI threshold or a distance threshold,to proximity information respectively available to the devices 702 ₁ and702 ₂. One of the data path group(s) that satisfies the proximitythreshold can be assigned to the data link 706. A data linkconfiguration unit included in each of the devices 7021 and 7022 canapply the proximity threshold and, based on an outcome of theapplication of the proximity threshold, the data link configuration unitcan assign a data path group to the data link 706. In scenarios in whichan extant data path group (e.g., a NAN data cluster) associated with oneor both of the devices 702 ₁ and 702 ₂ does not satisfy the proximitythreshold (or, in some embodiments, another selection criterion), a newNAN data cluster may be created and the data link 706 may be assigned tothat new data path group. In such scenarios, one of the devices 702 ₁ or702 ₂ can generate or otherwise configure the new data path group, andcan advertise the new data path group.

In addition to the assignment of a data path group (e.g., a NDC) to adata link, embodiments of the present disclosure can permit utilizing orotherwise leveraging proximity information to merge or otherwise updateexisting data path groups (e.g., NDCs) maintained by a device (such asdevice 702 ₁) in accordance with aspects of this disclosure. As anillustration, FIG. 7B presents an example of an operation environment750 in which devices can operate in accordance with one or more aspectsof this disclosure. Specifically, the device 702 ₁ can maintain two datapath groups 760 ₁ and 760 ₂ for respective data links (e.g., NDLs);e.g., data path group 760 ₁ for data link 706 and data path group 760 ₂for data link 756. Information indicative or otherwise representative ofsuch data path groups, and their relationship to the device 702 ₁, canbe retained in one or more computer-accessible storage devices withinthe device 702 ₁. In some aspects of group update the device 702 ₁ canmerge two data links (e.g., NDLs) to the same data path groups (e.g., aNDC) having satisfactory proximity information (e.g., closest proximityinformation, second closest proximity information, etc.). For instance,the data path group having highest RSSI or the data path group havingthe shortest distance. In addition or in other aspects of group update,common schedule can be considered in the merging of two or more datapath groups. For example, the device 702 ₁ can merge two data pathgroups if both schedules of the data link 706 and the data link 756include the base schedule of the combined data path group.

Further or in yet other aspects, the device 702 ₁ (or any other devicein accordance with this disclosure) can utilize or otherwise leverage athreshold of the proximity information. More specifically, for example,two or more data path groups can be merged, by the device 702 ₁, forexample, if the proximity information satisfies a defined threshold orother type of merger rule. For instance, two data path groups can bemerged in response to the RSSI associated with each is higher than aRSSI threshold. For another example, the two data path groups can bemerged if the distance is lower than a distance threshold.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an apparatus 800 for configuration of adata link in accordance with one or more embodiments of this disclosure.The exemplified apparatus 800 includes an access unit 810 that canaccess proximity information representative or otherwise indicative ofan amount of physical separation of a first device from a second device.The first device, the second device, or both, can include the apparatus800. In order to access proximity information, the access unit 810 canreceive information from a communication component (such as the radiounit 514 and/or a communication unit 526), the information can berepresentative or otherwise indicative of a pilot signal receivedwirelessly at a device including the apparatus 800. In someimplementations, the access unit 810 can process or otherwise operate onat least a portion of the information to determine one or more metricsrepresentative of the amount of physical separation of the first devicefrom the second device. In addition or in another implementation, theaccess unit 810 can query or poll one or more computer-accessiblestorage devices 820 (referred to as memory 820) and, in response, theaccess unit 810 can receive proximity information. Such proximityinformation can be retained within one or more memory elements 826(referred to as proximity information 826) within the memory 820. Thus,in some aspects, the access unit 810 can identify proximity informationby determining at least one of a RSSI for a wireless signal receivedfrom the second device, a channel path loss of the wireless signal, aranging distance from the second device, or a location of the seconddevice.

The exemplified apparatus 800 also can include a configuration unit 830that can configure or otherwise generate a data link between a devicethat includes the apparatus 800 and another device. In addition, theapparatus 800 can include an assignment unit 840 that can assign thedata link to a data path group in accordance with aspects describedherein. Specifically, in some aspects, the assignment unit 840 canassign or otherwise associate the data link based at least on proximityinformation accessed by the access unit 810 or otherwise available. Asdescribed herein, such proximity information can include first proximityinformation indicative of an amount of physical separation between afirst device and a second device, and/or second proximity informationassociated with extant data links. The second proximity information canbe retained in the proximity information 826 and can be indicative oflink proximity information (such as information 538). The secondproximity information also can include other proximity informationassociated with the data path group to which the data link is associatedto and/or other data path groups. The proximity information associatedwith data path group(s) can be retained in the proximity information826.

In some scenarios, the assignment unit 840 can leverage or otherwiseutilize the foregoing proximity information (which can be accessed bythe access unit 810 or it can be otherwise available) to select orotherwise identify the data path group (e.g., a NAN data cluster) forassociation with a data link configured by the configuration unit 830 oran extant data link. To that end, as described herein, the assignmentunit 840 can apply one or more selection rules to at least a portion ofthe available proximity information in order to determine such a datapath group. While not shown in FIG. 8, the selection rule(s) can beretained in the memory 820 and can be configurable (either externally orby a device that includes the apparatus 800, for example).

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the apparatus 800 also can include an updateunit 850 that can update the proximity information 826. To that end, insome aspects, the update unit 850 can retain proximity informationidentified or otherwise determined by the access unit 810 in a datastructure within the proximity information 826. In some implementations,the proximity information can be retained in the data structure, whichcan include, for example, an attribute having a field indicative of someor all of the proximity information. In addition or in other aspects,the update unit 850 can modify an extant data structure in order toupdate proximity information available in the extant data structure.Regardless of the type of update, the update unit 850 also can associateat least a portion of the updated proximity information to a data linkconfigured or otherwise generated by the configuration unit 830 and/orto the data path group associated, by the assignment unit 840, forexample, to such a data link. In some implementations, the update unit850 can retain the proximity information associated with data links asrespective data link attributes (e.g., NDL attributes). In addition orin other implementations, the update unit 850 can retain proximityinformation associated with data path groups as respective data pathgroup attributes, for example. Further or in yet other implementations,to associate proximity information to a data link, the update unit 850can augment a record (such as a data object or a data structure)indicative or otherwise representative of the data link with data and/ormetadata indicative of at least the portion of the proximityinformation.

While four units are shown as discrete elements constituting theexemplified apparatus 800, the disclosure is not limited in that respectand, in some embodiments, combinations of the access unit 810, theconfiguration unit 830, the assignment unit 840, and the update unit 850can constitute the apparatus 800. A combination of two or more of theunits 810-850 can be integrated into a single unit. In one examplecombination, the four units 810-850 can be integrated into a single unitfunctionally coupled to the memory 820. In other embodiments, one ormore of the units 810-850 can be partitioned into sub-units, which canconstitute the apparatus 800. As described herein, in some embodiments,each of the units 810-850 or a combination of two or more of such unitscan be embodied in firmware or other type of circuitry that can providethe functionalities described herein.

FIG. 9 presents an example of a device 900 in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure. The exemplified device 900 caninclude the processor(s) 904 and one or more computer-accessible storagedevices 910. At least one of the processor(s) 904 can be similar to orthe same as another processor of the processor(s) 524 described hereinin connection with the device 510. The computer-accessible storagedevice(s) 910 can include any non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium or machine-readable storage medium, such as an optical, magneticor semiconductor storage medium. In various embodiments,computer-accessible storage device(s) 910 can embody or can include anarticle of manufacture. As illustrated, the computer-accessible storagedevice(s) 910 can retain one or more data link configuration components920 that can be embodied in or can include computer-executableinstructions. The computer-accessible storage device(s) 910 also canretain data link configuration information 930 in accordance withaspects of this disclosure. As such, in some aspects, the data linkconfiguration information 930 can include link proximity information,data path group proximity information, information indicative ofcandidate data path groups, a combination of the foregoing, or the like.In response to execution, the data link configuration component(s) 920can perform or otherwise can facilitate operations that permit a deviceto operate in accordance with aspects described herein. Specifically, insome aspects, the data link configuration component(s) 920 can configuresuch a device to operate as one of the devices 510, 702 ₁, or 702 ₂.Examples of a computer-accessible storage medium or machine-readablestorage medium may include any tangible media capable of storingelectronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatile memory,removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory,writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth. Examples ofcomputer-executable instructions may include any suitable type of code,such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code,static code, dynamic code, object-oriented code, visual code, and thelike. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a communications device 1000 thatmay implement one or more of wireless communication devices 510, 702 ₁,702 ₂, and 800. In various embodiments, device 1000 may comprise a logiccircuit 1028. The logic circuit 1028 may include physical circuits toperform operations described for one or more of wireless communicationdevices 510, 702 ₁, and 702 ₂, for example. As shown in FIG. 10, device1000 may include a radio interface 1010, baseband circuitry 1020, andcomputing platform 1030, although the embodiments are not limited tothis configuration.

The device 1000 may implement some or all of the structure and/oroperations for one or more of wireless communication devices 510, 702 ₁,702 ₂, 800, and logic circuit 1028 in a single computing entity, such asentirely within a single device. Alternatively, the device 1000 maydistribute portions of the structure and/or operations for one or moreof wireless communication devices 510, 702 ₁, 702 ₂, and 800, and logiccircuit 1028 across multiple computing entities using a distributedsystem architecture, such as a client-server architecture, a 3-tierarchitecture, an N-tier architecture, a tightly-coupled or clusteredarchitecture, a peer-to-peer architecture, a master-slave architecture,a shared database architecture, and other types of distributed systems.The embodiments are not limited in this context.

In one embodiment, radio interface 1010 may include a component orcombination of components adapted for transmitting and/or receivingsingle-carrier or multi-carrier modulated signals (e.g., includingcomplementary code keying (CCK), orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM), and/or single-carrier frequency division multipleaccess (SC-FDMA) symbols) although the embodiments are not limited toany specific over-the-air interface or modulation scheme. Radiointerface 1010 may include, for example, a receiver 1012, a frequencysynthesizer 1014, and/or a transmitter 1016. Radio interface 1010 mayinclude bias controls, a crystal oscillator and/or one or more antennas1018. In another embodiment, radio interface 1010 may use externalvoltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), surface acoustic wave filters,intermediate frequency (IF) filters and/or RF filters, as desired. Dueto the variety of potential RF interface designs an expansivedescription thereof is omitted.

Baseband circuitry 1020 may communicate with radio interface 1010 toprocess receive and/or transmit signals and may include, for example, ananalog-to-digital converter 1022 for down converting received signals, adigital-to-analog converter 1024 for up converting signals fortransmission. Further, baseband circuitry 1020 may include a baseband orphysical layer (PHY) processing circuit 1026 for PHY link layerprocessing of respective receive/transmit signals. Baseband circuitry1020 may include, for example, a medium access control (MAC) processingcircuit 1027 for MAC/data link layer processing. Baseband circuitry 1020may include a memory controller 1032 for communicating with MACprocessing circuit 1027 and/or a computing platform 1030, for example,via one or more interfaces 1034.

In some embodiments, PHY processing circuit 1026 may include a frameconstruction and/or detection module, in combination with additionalcircuitry such as a buffer memory, to construct and/or deconstructcommunication frames. Alternatively or in addition, MAC processingcircuit 1027 may share processing for certain of these functions orperform these processes independent of PHY processing circuit 1026. Insome embodiments, MAC and PHY processing may be integrated into a singlecircuit.

The computing platform 1030 may provide computing functionality for thedevice 1000. As shown, the computing platform 1030 may include aprocessing component 1040. In addition to, or alternatively of, thebaseband circuitry 1020, the device 1000 may execute processingoperations or logic for one or more of wireless communication devices510, 702 ₁, 702 ₂, and 800, and logic circuit 1028 using the processingcomponent 1040. The processing component 1040 (and/or PHY 1026 and/orMAC 1027) may comprise various hardware elements, software elements, ora combination of both. Examples of hardware elements may includedevices, logic devices, components, processors, microprocessors,circuits, processor circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors,resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits,application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logicdevices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gatearray (FPGA), memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductordevice, chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of softwareelements may include software components, programs, applications,computer programs, application programs, system programs, softwaredevelopment programs, machine programs, operating system software,middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines,functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application programinterfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code, computer code, codesegments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or anycombination thereof. Determining whether an embodiment is implementedusing hardware elements and/or software elements may vary in accordancewith any number of factors, such as desired computational rate, powerlevels, heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates,output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other design orperformance constraints, as desired for a given implementation.

The computing platform 1030 may further include other platformcomponents 1050. Other platform components 1050 include common computingelements, such as one or more processors, multi-core processors,co-processors, memory units, chipsets, controllers, peripherals,interfaces, oscillators, timing devices, video cards, audio cards,multimedia input/output (I/O) components (e.g., digital displays), powersupplies, and so forth. Examples of memory units may include withoutlimitation various types of computer readable and machine readablestorage media in the form of one or more higher speed memory units, suchas read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM(DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), staticRAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymermemory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase changeor ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS)memory, magnetic or optical cards, an array of devices such as RedundantArray of Independent Disks (RAID) drives, solid state memory devices(e.g., USB memory, solid state drives (SSD) and any other type ofstorage media suitable for storing information.

Device 1000 may be, for example, an ultra-mobile device, a mobiledevice, a fixed device, a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile computing device, a smart phone, atelephone, a digital telephone, a cellular telephone, user equipment,eBook readers, a handset, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a messagingdevice, a computer, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a notebook computer, a netbook computer, a handheldcomputer, a tablet computer, a server, a server array or server farm, aweb server, a network server, an Internet server, a work station, amini-computer, a main frame computer, a supercomputer, a networkappliance, a web appliance, a distributed computing system,multiprocessor systems, processor-based systems, consumer electronics,programmable consumer electronics, game devices, display, television,digital television, set top box, wireless access point, base station,node B, subscriber station, mobile subscriber center, radio networkcontroller, router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch, machine, orcombination thereof. Accordingly, functions and/or specificconfigurations of device 1000 described herein, may be included oromitted in various embodiments of device 1000, as suitably desired.

Embodiments of device 1000 may be implemented using single input singleoutput (SISO) architectures. However, certain implementations mayinclude multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 1018) for transmission and/orreception using adaptive antenna techniques for beamforming or spatialdivision multiple access (SDMA) and/or using MIMO communicationtechniques.

The components and elements of device 1000 may be implemented using anycombination of discrete circuitry, application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), logic gates and/or single chip architectures. Further,the elements of device 1000 may be implemented using microcontrollers,programmable logic arrays and/or microprocessors or any combination ofthe foregoing where suitably appropriate. It is noted that hardware,firmware and/or software elements may be collectively or individuallyreferred to herein as a “component,” which can include “logic” and/or“circuit.”

It noted that the example device 1000 shown in the block diagram of FIG.10 may represent one example of many potential implementations ofaspects of this disclosure. Accordingly, division, omission or inclusionof block functions depicted in the accompanying figures does not inferthat the hardware components, circuits, software and/or elements forimplementing these functions would be necessarily be divided, omitted,or included in embodiments.

FIG. 11 presents another example embodiment of a device 1110 inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. The device1110 can embody or can constitute, for example, one of the communicationdevices 110 a, 110 b, or 110 c; one or more of the base stations 114 a,114 b, or 114 c; and/or any other devices (e.g., device 510) that canimplement or otherwise leverage configuration of data path groups inaccordance with aspects described herein. In some embodiments, thedevice 1110 can embody or can constitute any one of the devices in alow-power mesh network, such as the example mesh network 220 shown inFIG. 2. As such, the device 1110 can embody a border router device, arouter device, a leader device, or a SED. Therefore, in someimplementations, the device 1110 can be a device compliant with IEEE802.15.4, Thread, and/or NAN protocols, where the device may beconfigured to communicate with one or more other similarly compliantdevices and/or other types of communication devices, such as legacycommunication devices. In addition or in other embodiments, the device1110 can be compliant with Wi-Fi protocols and/or Thread protocols.Devices compliant with IEEE 802.15.4 and/or Thread protocols may bebroadly referred to as Thread devices and can operate in accordance withaspects described herein. As mentioned, Thread devices, such as borderrouter devices, also may operate in accordance with Wi-Fi protocols. Inone implementation, the device 1110 can operate as a commissionerdevice, a border router device, a leader device, a router device, or aSED.

As illustrated, the device 1110 can include, among other things,physical layer (PHY) circuitry 1120 and media access control layer (MAC)circuitry 1130. In one aspect, the PHY circuitry 1120 and the MACcircuitry 1130 can be layers compliant with IEEE 802.15.4 and/or Threadprotocols, and also can be compliant, in some embodiments, with one ormore Wi-Fi protocols, such as one or more of NAN protocols and/or orprotocol(s) of the family of IEEE 802.11 standards. In one aspect, theMAC circuitry 1130 can be arranged to configure physical layer convergeprotocol (PLCP) protocol data units (PPDUs) and arranged to transmit andreceive PPDUs, among other things. In addition or in other embodiments,the device 1110 also can include other hardware processing circuitry1140 (e.g., one or more processors) and one or more memory devices 1150(which can be collectively referred to as memory 1150) configured toperform the various operations for configuration of data path groups asdescribed herein.

In some embodiments, the MAC circuitry 1030 can be arranged to contendfor a wireless medium during a contention period to receive control ofthe medium for a control period and configure a PPDU. In addition or inother embodiments, the PHY circuitry 1120 can be arranged to transmitthe PPDU. The PHY circuitry 1120 can include circuitry formodulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering,amplification, etc. As such, the device 1110 can include a transceiverto transmit and receive data such as PPDU. In some embodiments, thehardware processing circuitry 1140 can include one or more processors.The hardware processing circuitry 1140 can be configured to performfunctions based on instructions being stored in a memory device (e.g.,volatile random access memory (RAM), non-volatile RAM, or read onlymemory (ROM)) or based on special purpose circuitry. In someembodiments, the hardware processing circuitry 1140 can be configured toperform one or more of the functions described herein, such asallocating bandwidth or receiving allocations of bandwidth.

In some embodiments, one or more antennas may be coupled to or includedin the PHY circuitry 1120. The antenna(s) can transmit and receivewireless signals, including transmission of HEW packets or other type ofradio packets. As described herein, the one or more antennas can includeone or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including dipoleantennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstripantennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RFsignals. In scenarios in which MIMO communication is utilized, theantennas may be physically separated to leverage spatial diversity andthe different channel characteristics that may result.

The memory 1150 can retain or otherwise store information forconfiguring the other circuitry to perform operations for configuringand transmitting packets compliant with Thread protocols and/or othertypes of radio packets, and performing the various operations describedherein including, for example, configuring a data path group inaccordance with one or more embodiments of this disclosure. The memory1150 can include any type of memory devices, including non-transitorystorage media, for storing information in a form readable by a machine(e.g., a computer or another type of computing device). As anillustration, the memory 1150 can include at least one computer-readablestorage device, such as ROM device(s), RAM device(s), magnetic diskstorage media, optical storage media, flash-memory device(s), and otherstorage devices and media.

The device 1110 can be configured to communicate using OFDMcommunication signals over a multicarrier communication channel. Morespecifically, in some embodiments, the device 1110 can be configured tocommunicate in accordance with one or more specific radio technologyprotocols, such as the IEEE family of standards including IEEE 802.11,IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ax, IEEE 802.15.4, DensiFi,and/or proposed specifications for WLANs. In one of such embodiments,the device 1110 can utilize or otherwise rely on symbols having aduration that is four times the symbol duration of IEEE 802.11n and/orIEEE 802.11ac. It is noted that the disclosure is not limited in thisrespect and, in some embodiments, the device 1110 also can transmitand/or receive wireless communications in accordance with otherprotocols and/or standards.

The device 1110 can be embodied in or can constitute a portable wirelesscommunication device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), alaptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability, aweb tablet, a wireless telephone, a smartphone, a wireless headset, apager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, atelevision, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a bloodpressure monitor, etc.), an access point, a base station, atransmit/receive device for a wireless standard such as IEEE 802.11,IEEE 802.15.4, or IEEE 802.16, or other types of communication devicethat may receive and/or transmit information wirelessly. Similarly toother devices of this disclosure, the device 1110 can include, forexample, one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memoryport, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor,speakers, and other mobile device elements. The display may be an LCDscreen including a touch screen.

It is noted that while the device 1110 is illustrated as having severalseparate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements maybe combined and may be implemented by combinations ofsoftware-configured elements, such as processing elements includingdigital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. Forexample, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) andcombinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing atleast the functions described herein. In some embodiments, thefunctional elements may refer to one or more processes operating orotherwise executing on one or more processors. It is further noted thatportions of the device 1110 can embody or can constitute an apparatus.For instance, the processing circuitry 1140 and the memory 1150 canembody or can constitute an apparatus that can operate in accordancewith one or more aspects of this disclosure. The apparatus also caninclude functional elements (e.g., a bus architecture and/or API(s) asdescribed herein) that can permit exchange of information between theprocessing circuitry 1140 and the memory 1150.

In view of the functionalities described herein in accordance with thisdisclosure, various techniques can be implemented for configuring datapath groups associated with a cluster of devices that can communicatewirelessly and can operate according to a specific communicationprotocol (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 standardized protocol). Example of suchtechniques can be better appreciated with reference, for example, to theflowchart in FIG. 12. For purposes of simplicity of explanation, theexample method disclosed herein is presented and described as a seriesof blocks (with each block representing one or more actions oroperations, for example). However, it is to be understood andappreciated that the illustrated method is not limited by the order ofblocks and associated actions or operations, as some blocks may occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from those thatare shown and described herein. For example, the various methods (orprocesses or techniques) in accordance with this disclosure can bealternatively represented as a series of interrelated states or events,such as in a state diagram. Furthermore, not all illustrated blocks, andassociated action(s), may be required to implement a method inaccordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure. Further yet, twoor more of the disclosed methods or processes, or functionalitiesdescribed herein in connection with adaptive mid-packet detection, canbe implemented in combination with each other in order to accomplish oneor more of the elements or advantages of this disclosure.

It is noted that the techniques of this disclosure can be retained on anarticle of manufacture, or computer-readable medium, to permit orfacilitate transporting and transferring such methods to a computingdevice (e.g., a desktop computer; a mobile computer, such as a tablet,or a smartphone; a gaming console, a mobile telephone; a blade computer;a programmable logic controller, and the like) for execution, and thusimplementation, by a processor of the computing device or for storage ina memory thereof or functionally coupled thereto. In one aspect, one ormore processors, such as processor(s) that implement (e.g., execute) oneor more of the disclosed techniques, can be employed to execute codeinstructions retained in a memory, or any computer- or machine-readablemedium, to implement the one or more methods. The code instructions canprovide a computer-executable or machine-executable framework toimplement the techniques described herein.

FIG. 12 presents an example method 1200 for setting up data links indata path groups according to one or more embodiments of the disclosure.At least a portion of the example method 1200 can be implemented by adevice in accordance with aspects of this disclosure. The device caninclude computing resources and communication resources that can permit,at least, wireless communication between the device and another device.The computing resources can include, for example, one or more processorsand one or more computer-accessible storage devices. The communicationresources can include one or more antennas and circuitry (or, in someembodiments, other components) that can permit processing analoginformation and/or digital information for, at least, the wirelesscommunication between the device and the other device. At least aportion of the analog information and/or at least a portion of thedigital information can be processed according to a radio technologyprotocol, as described herein. At least some of the computing resourcesand/or at least some of the communication resources can implement one ormore blocks of the example method 1200.

At block 1210, a first device can access or otherwise determineproximity information representative of an amount of physical separationof the first device from a second device. In certain implementations,the proximity information can be accessed as part of or in response to anegotiation process associated with generation of a data link (e.g., NANdata link) between the first device and another device (e.g., the seconddevice, a third device, or the like). As such, in some aspects,accessing the proximity information can include, for example, receivinginformation wirelessly (e.g., a pilot signal) and, utilizing at least aportion of the information, determining one or more metricsrepresentative of the amount of physical separation of the first devicefrom the second device. In addition or in another example, accessingproximity information can include querying or polling acomputer-accessible storage device integrated into or otherwise coupledto the first device and, in response, receiving the proximityinformation. As such, in some aspects, accessing or otherwiseidentifying the proximity information can include determining at leastone of a RSSI for a wireless signal received from the second device, achannel path loss of the wireless signal, a ranging distance from thesecond device, or a location of the second device.

At block 1220, the first device can configure or otherwise generate thedata link between the first device and the second device. At block 1230,the first device can assign the data link to a data path group. In someaspects, the data link can be assigned based at least on a portion ofthe proximity information. As described herein, the assignment of thedata link also is based on other proximity information associated withextant data links (e.g., link proximity information 538) and/or yetother proximity information associated with the data path group or otherdata path groups (e.g., data path group proximity information 540). Thedata path group can be embodied in or can include a NAN data clusterassociated with a cluster of devices. As described herein, assigning thedata link to a data path group according, at least in part, to proximityinformation associated with devices that form a data link and/orproximity information associated with another link or the data pathgroup can mitigate or can avoid reliance on multi-hop management inorder to maintain stringent synchronization between devices associatedwith the data path group. Therefore, in some aspects, implementation ofthe example method 1200 can reduce complexity in the configuration ofdata links and data path groups in wireless networks.

With further reference to the example method 1200, at block 1240, thefirst device can retain the proximity information in a data structurewithin one or more computer-accessible storage devices (e.g., memory 530in device 510). In some implementations, a portion of the proximityinformation can be retained in the data structure, which can include,for example, an attribute having a field indicative of some or all ofthe proximity information. At block 1250, the first device can associateat least the portion of the proximity information to at least one of thedata link or the data path group. As such, in some aspects, proximityinformation associated with data links (e.g., link proximity information538) can be retained at the first device as respective data linkattributes (e.g., NDL attributes), for example. In addition, or in otheraspects, proximity information associated with data path groups (e.g.,data path group proximity information) can be retained at the firstdevice as respective data path group attributes, for example. Inaddition or in some implementations, associating at least the portion ofthe proximity information to a data link can include augmenting a record(such as a data object or a data structure) indicative or otherwiserepresentative of the data link with data and/or metadata indicative ofat least the portion of the proximity information.

According to example embodiments of the disclosure, there may be acomputer-readable storage device. The computer-readable storage devicemay have instructions programmed thereon that, in response to execution,cause a first device to perform or facilitate operations comprising:accessing proximity information representative of an amount ofseparation of the first device from a second device; configuring a datalink with the second device; and assigning, based at least on theportion of the first proximity information, the data link to an extantdata path group associated with a cluster of devices including the firstdevice.

Implementation may include one or more of the following elements.Accessing the proximity information may comprise operations determiningat least one of a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) for awireless signal received from the second device, a channel path loss ofthe wireless signal, a ranging distance from the second device, or alocation of the second device. The at least one computer-readablestorage device may further perform operations comprising retaining atleast a portion of the proximity information in a data structure withinthe device. The data structure may comprise an attribute having a fieldindicative of the at least the portion of the proximity information andmay further perform operations comprising associating the attribute tothe data link and the data path. Operations may further compriseassigning second proximity information representative of a second amountof physical separation of the first device from a third device,operations may further comprise configuring a second data link; andassigning, based at least on a second portion of the second proximityinformation and the first proximity information, the second data link tothe extant data path group. A value of a defined function of the firstproximity information and second proximity information may be determinedby operations and may be further determined by updating the datastructure to include the value; and associating the value to the extantdata path group. Assignation may further comprise operations determiningthat the extant data path group has a base schedule that is a subset ofthe second schedule of the data link; determining that the second devicein included in the cluster of devices associated with the extant datapath group. The operations of the at least one computer-readable storagedevice may further comprise receiving information indicative of the datapath group prior to the assigning. Assigning may further comprisedetermining that a portion of the proximity information satisfies aproximity criterion; identifying the data path group by determining thatthe data path group is associated with the portion of the proximityinformation. Operations may further comprise accessing link informationindicative of data links respectively associated with data path groups,each of the data groups associated with a respective cluster of devices;accessing proximity information associated with the data path groups;determine that a first data path group of the data path groups isassociated with first proximity information that satisfies a proximitycriterion; and assigning at least a subset of the data links to thefirst data path group. The at least one computer-readable storage devicemay further perform operations determining a first data link of the datalinks has a first base schedule that includes a base schedule of asecond data path group of the data path groups; determining that asecond data link of the data links has a second base schedule thatincludes the base schedule; and assigning the first data link and thesecond data link to the second data path group.

According to example embodiments of the disclosure, there may be adevice. The device may include at least one memory device havinginstructions programmed thereon and at least one processor configured toaccess the at least one memory device and further configured to executethe instructions to: identify proximity information representative of anamount of separation of the device from a second device; configure adata link with the second device; and assign, based at least on theportion of the first proximity information, the data link to an extantdata path group associated with a cluster of devices including the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the device can include a radio unit thatreceives wireless signal from the second device according to a definedradio technology protocol, the radio unit comprising at least onetransceiver and at least one antenna; and

Implementation may include one or more of the following elements. Thedata link can include a Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) data link,and wherein the data path group comprises a NAN data cluster. Toidentify the proximity information, the at least one processor can becoupled to the radio unit and can be further configured to execute theinstructions to determine at least one of a received signal strengthindicator (RSSI) for a wireless signal received from the second device,a channel path loss of the wireless signal, a ranging distance from thesecond device, or a location of the second device. The device mayfurther configure the processor to execute the instructions to retain atleast a portion of the proximity information in a data structure withinthe device. The data structure may comprise an attribute having a fieldindicative of the at least the portion of the proximity information andthe device may further configure the processor to execute theinstructions to associate the attribute to the data link and the datapath. The at least one processor of the device may further be configuredto execute the instructions to access second proximity informationrepresentative of a second amount of physical separation of the firstdevice from a third device, and may further execute instructions toconfigure a second data link; and to assign based at least on a secondportion of the second proximity information and the first proximityinformation, the second data link to the extant data path group. A valueof a defined function of the first proximity information and secondproximity information may be determined by executed instructions by theconfigured processor and may be further determined by updating the datastructure to include the value; and associating the value to the extantdata path group. Assignation may further comprise determining that theextant data path group has a base schedule that is a subset of a secondschedule of the data link. The at least one processor of the device mayfurther be configured to execute the instructions to determine that thesecond device in included in the cluster of devices associated with theextant data path group. The at least one processor of the device mayfurther be configured to execute the instructions to receive informationindicative of the data path group prior to the assigning. The at leastone processor of the device may further be configured to execute theinstructions to determine that a portion of the proximity informationsatisfies a proximity criterion; to identify the data path group bydetermining that the data path group is associated with the portion ofthe proximity information. The at least one processor of the device mayfurther be configured to execute the instructions to access linkinformation indicative of data links respectively associated with datapath groups, each of the data groups associated with a respectivecluster of devices; to determine that a first data path group of thedata path groups is associated with first proximity information thatsatisfies a proximity criterion; and to assign at least a subset of thedata links to the first data path group. The at least one processor mayfurther be configured to execute the instructions to determine that afirst data link of the data links has a first base schedule thatincludes a base schedule of a second data path group of the data pathgroups; to determine that a second data link of the data links has asecond base schedule that includes the base schedule; and to assign thefirst data link and the second data link to the second data path group.

According to example embodiments of the disclosure, there may be amethod. The method may comprise: accessing proximity informationrepresentative of an amount of separation of the first device from asecond device; configuring a data link with the second device; andassigning, based at least on the portion of the first proximityinformation, the data link to an extant data path group associated witha cluster of devices including the first device.

Implementation may include one or more of the following elements.Accessing the proximity information may comprise operations determiningat least one of a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) for awireless signal received from the second device, a channel path loss ofthe wireless signal, a ranging distance from the second device, or alocation of the second device. The method may further perform operationscomprising retaining at least a portion of the proximity information ina data structure within the device. The data structure may comprise anattribute having a field indicative of the at least the portion of theproximity information and the method may further perform operationscomprising associating the attribute to the data link and the data path.Operations may further comprise assigning second proximity informationrepresentative of a second amount of physical separation of the firstdevice from a third device, operations may further comprise configuringa second data link; and assigning, based at least on a second portion ofthe second proximity information and the first proximity information,the second data link to the extant data path group. A value of a definedfunction of the first proximity information and second proximityinformation may be determined by operations and may be furtherdetermined by updating the data structure to include the value; andassociating the value to the extant data path group. Assignation mayfurther comprise operations determining that the extant data path grouphas a base schedule that is a subset of the second schedule of the datalink; determining that the second device in included in the cluster ofdevices associated with the extant data path group. The operations ofthe method further comprise receiving information indicative of the datapath group prior to the assigning. Assigning may further comprisedetermining that a portion of the proximity information satisfies aproximity criterion; identifying the data path group by determining thatthe data path group is associated with the portion of the proximityinformation. Operations may further comprise accessing link informationindicative of data links respectively associated with data path groups,each of the data groups associated with a respective cluster of devices;accessing proximity information associated with the data path groups;determine that a first data path group of the data path groups isassociated with first proximity information that satisfies a proximitycriterion; and assigning at least a subset of the data links to thefirst data path group. The method may further perform operationsdetermining a first data link of the data links has a first baseschedule that includes a base schedule of a second data path group ofthe data path groups; determining that a second data link of the datalinks has a second base schedule that includes the base schedule; andassigning the first data link and the second data link to the seconddata path group.

The disclosure also can provide, in some embodiments, a device includingan access unit that identifies proximity information representative ofan amount of physical separation of the device from a second device; aconfiguration unit that configures a data link with the second device;and an assignment unit that associates, based on a portion of theproximity information and at least one of second proximity informationassociated with extant data links or third proximity informationassociated with data path groups, the data link to a data path groupassociated with a cluster of devices including the device. In additionor in other embodiments, he device can further include a radio unit thatreceives wireless signal from the second device according to a definedradio technology protocol, the radio unit comprising at least onetransceiver and at least one antenna; and a communication unit coupledto the radio unit, the communication unit generates informationrepresentative of the wireless signal.

Implementation may include one or more of the following elements. Inorder to identify the proximity information, the access unit receives atleast a portion of the information, and determines, using at least theportion of the information, at least one of a received signal strengthindicator (RSSI) for the wireless signal, a channel path loss of thewireless signal, a ranging distance from the second device, or alocation of the second device.

According to example embodiments of the disclosure, there may be anapparatus. The apparatus may comprise: means for accessing proximityinformation representative of an amount of separation of the firstdevice from a second device; means for configuring a data link with thesecond device; and means for assigning, based at least on the portion ofthe first proximity information, the data link to an extant data pathgroup associated with a cluster of devices including the first device.

Implementation may include one or more of the following elements. Meansfor accessing the proximity information may comprise means fordetermining at least one of a received signal strength indicator (RSSI)for a wireless signal received from the second device, a channel pathloss of the wireless signal, a ranging distance from the second device,or a location of the second device. The apparatus may further performoperations comprising means for retaining at least a portion of theproximity information in a data structure within the device. The datastructure may comprise an attribute having a field indicative of the atleast the portion of the proximity information and the apparatus mayfurther perform operations comprising means for associating theattribute to the data link and the data path. Operations may furthercomprise means for assigning second proximity information representativeof a second amount of physical separation of the first device from athird device, operations may further comprise means for configuring asecond data link; and means for assigning, based at least on a secondportion of the second proximity information and the first proximityinformation, the second data link to the extant data path group. Theapparatus may have means for determining a value of a defined functionof the first proximity and the second proximity information; means forupdating the data structure to include the value; and means forassociating the value to the extant data path group. Means forassignation may further comprise means for determining that the extantdata path group has a base schedule that is a subset of the a secondschedule of the data link; means for determining that the second devicein included in the cluster of devices associated with the extant datapath group. The apparatus may further comprise means for receivinginformation indicative of the data path group prior to the assigning.Means for assigning may further comprise means for determining that aportion of the proximity information satisfies a proximity criterion;means for identifying the data path group by determining that the datapath group is associated with the portion of the proximity information.The apparatus may further comprise means for accessing link informationindicative of data links respectively associated with data path groups,each of the data groups associated with a respective cluster of devices;means for accessing proximity information associated with the data pathgroups; means for determining that a first data path group of the datapath groups is associated with first proximity information thatsatisfies a proximity criterion; and means for assigning at least asubset of the data links to the first data path group. The apparatus mayfurther perform operations comprising means for determining a first datalink of the data links has a first base schedule that includes a baseschedule of a second data path group of the data path groups; means fordetermining that a second data link of the data links has a second baseschedule that includes the base schedule; and means for assigning thefirst data link and the second data link to the second data path group.

Various embodiments of the disclosure may take the form of an entirelyor partially hardware embodiment, an entirely or partially softwareembodiment, or a combination of software and hardware (e.g., a firmwareembodiment). Examples of hardware elements may include processors,microprocessors, circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors,resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits,application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logicdevices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gatearray (FPGA), logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips,microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of software may includesoftware components, programs, applications, computer programs,application programs, system programs, machine programs, operatingsystem software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines,subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces,application program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code,computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values,symbols, or any combination thereof. As described herein, variousembodiments of the disclosure (e.g., methods and/or systems) may takethe form of a computer program product comprising a computer-readablenon-transitory storage medium having computer-accessible instructions(e.g., computer-readable and/or computer-executable instructions) suchas computer software, encoded or otherwise embodied in such storagemedium. Those instructions can be read or otherwise accessed andexecuted by one or more processors to perform or permit performance ofthe operations described herein. The instructions can be provided in anysuitable form, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code,executable code, static code, dynamic code, assembler code, combinationsof the foregoing, and the like. Any suitable computer-readablenon-transitory storage medium may be utilized to form the computerprogram product. For instance, the computer-readable medium may includeany tangible non-transitory medium for storing information in a formreadable or otherwise accessible by one or more computers orprocessor(s) functionally coupled thereto. Non-transitory storage mediacan include ROM device(s); RAM device(s); magnetic disk storage media;optical storage media; flash memory device(s); resistive memorydevice(s); etc. Determining whether an embodiment is implemented usinghardware elements and/or software elements may vary in accordance withany number of factors, such as desired computational rate, power levels,heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates, output datarates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other design or performanceconstraints.

One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented byrepresentative instructions stored on a machine-readable medium whichrepresents various logic within the processor, which when read by amachine causes the machine to fabricate logic to perform the techniquesdescribed herein. Such representations, known as “IP cores” may bestored on a tangible, machine readable medium and supplied to variouscustomers or manufacturing facilities to load into the fabricationmachines that actually make the logic or processor. Some embodiments maybe implemented, for example, using a machine-readable medium or articlewhich may store an instruction or a set of instructions that, ifexecuted by a machine, may cause the machine to perform a method and/oroperations in accordance with the embodiments. Such a machine mayinclude, for example, any suitable processing platform, computingplatform, computing device, processing device, computing system,processing system, computer, processor, or the like, and may beimplemented using any suitable combination of hardware and/or software.The machine-readable medium or article may include, for example, anysuitable type of memory unit, memory device, memory article, memorymedium, storage device, storage article, storage medium and/or storageunit, for example, memory, removable or non-removable media, erasable ornon-erasable media, writeable or re-writeable media, digital or analogmedia, hard disk, floppy disk, Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM),Compact Disk Recordable (CD-R), Compact Disk Rewriteable (CD-RW),optical disk, magnetic media, magneto-optical media, removable memorycards or disks, various types of Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), a tape, acassette, or the like. The instructions may include any suitable type ofcode, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executablecode, static code, dynamic code, encrypted code, and the like,implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level, object-oriented,visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language.

Numerous specific details have been set forth herein to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be understood bythose skilled in the art, however, that the embodiments may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownoperations, components, and circuits have not been described in detailso as not to obscure the embodiments. It can be appreciated that thespecific structural and functional details disclosed herein may berepresentative and do not necessarily limit the scope of theembodiments.

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “coupled” and“connected” along with their derivatives. Specifically, some embodimentsmay be described using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” toindicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electricalcontact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean thattwo or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yetstill co-operate or interact with each other. In addition, as used inthe present specification and annexed drawings, the term “communicate”is intended to include transmitting, or receiving, or both transmittingand receiving. This may be particularly useful in claims when describingthe organization of data that is being transmitted by one device andreceived by another, but only the functionality of one of those devicesis required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchangeof data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive duringthe exchange) may be described as “communicating,” when only thefunctionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term“communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communicationsignal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/orreceiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wirelesscommunication unit, which is capable of communicating a wirelesscommunication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit thewireless communication signal to at least one other wirelesscommunication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receivethe wireless communication signal from at least one other wirelesscommunication unit.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, it may be appreciated that termssuch as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” or thelike, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computingsystem, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and/ortransforms data represented as physical quantities (e.g., electronic)within the computing system's registers and/or memories into other datasimilarly represented as physical quantities within the computingsystem's memories, registers or other such information storage,transmission or display devices. The embodiments are not limited in thiscontext.

It should be noted that the methods described herein do not have to beexecuted in the order described, or in any particular order. Moreover,various activities described with respect to the methods identifiedherein can be executed in serial or parallel fashion.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated toachieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodimentsshown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations orvariations of various embodiments. It is to be understood that the abovedescription has been made in an illustrative fashion, and not arestrictive one. Combinations of the above embodiments, and otherembodiments not specifically described herein will be apparent to thoseof skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Thus, thescope of various embodiments includes any other applications in whichthe above compositions, structures, and methods are used.

In addition, in the present disclosure, various elements are groupedtogether in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining thedisclosure. Yet, such illustrations are not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require moreelements than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. In the appended claims, theterms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-Englishequivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,”respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc.are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numericalrequirements on their objects.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural elements and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific elements or acts described above.Rather, the specific elements and acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

Embodiments of the operational environments and techniques (procedures,methods, processes, and the like) are described herein with reference toblock diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, systems,apparatuses and computer program products. It can be understood thateach block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations, respectively, can be implemented by computer-accessibleinstructions. In certain implementations, the computer-accessibleinstructions may be loaded or otherwise incorporated into a generalpurpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmableinformation processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, suchthat the operations or functions specified in the flowchart block orblocks can be implemented in response to execution at the computer orprocessing apparatus.

Blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams support combinations ofmeans for performing the specified functions, combinations of elementsor steps for performing the specified functions and program instructionmeans for performing the specified functions. It will also be understoodthat each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, may beimplemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems thatperform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations ofspecial-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, it is in no way intended that anyprotocol, procedure, process, or method set forth herein be construed asrequiring that its acts or steps be performed in a specific order.Accordingly, where a process or method claim does not actually recite anorder to be followed by its acts or steps or it is not otherwisespecifically recited in the claims or descriptions of the subjectdisclosure that the steps are to be limited to a specific order, it isin no way intended that an order be inferred, in any respect. This holdsfor any possible non-express basis for interpretation, including:matters of logic with respect to arrangement of steps or operationalflow; plain meaning derived from grammatical organization orpunctuation; the number or type of embodiments described in thespecification or annexed drawings, or the like.

As used in this application, the terms “component,” “environment,”“system,” “architecture,” “interface,” “unit,” “module,” “engine,”“platform,” “module,” and the like are intended to refer to acomputer-related entity or an entity related to an operational apparatuswith one or more specific functionalities. Such entities may be eitherhardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or softwarein execution. As an example, a component may be, but is not limited tobeing, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, anexecutable portion of software, a thread of execution, a program, and/ora computing device. For example, both a software application executingon a computing device and the computing device can be a component. Oneor more components may reside within a process and/or thread ofexecution. A component may be localized on one computing device ordistributed between two or more computing devices. As described herein,a component can execute from various computer-readable non-transitorymedia having various data structures stored thereon. Components cancommunicate via local and/or remote processes in accordance, forexample, with a signal (either analogic or digital) having one or moredata packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with anothercomponent in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a networksuch as a wide area network with other systems via the signal). Asanother example, a component can be an apparatus with specificfunctionality provided by mechanical parts operated by electric orelectronic circuitry that is controlled by a software application orfirmware application executed by a processor, wherein the processor canbe internal or external to the apparatus and can execute at least a partof the software or firmware application. As yet another example, acomponent can be an apparatus that provides specific functionalitythrough electronic components without mechanical parts, the electroniccomponents can include a processor therein to execute software orfirmware that confers at least in part the functionality of theelectronic components. An interface can include input/output (I/O)components as well as associated processor, application, and/or otherprogramming components. The terms “component,” “environment,” “system,”“architecture,” “interface,” “unit,” “engine,” “platform,” “module” canbe utilized interchangeably and can be referred to collectively asfunctional elements.

In the present specification and annexed drawings, reference to a“processor” is made. As utilized herein, a processor can refer to anycomputing processing unit or device comprising single-core processors;single-processors with software multithread execution capability;multi-core processors; multi-core processors with software multithreadexecution capability; multi-core processors with hardware multithreadtechnology; parallel platforms; and parallel platforms with distributedshared memory. Additionally, a processor can refer to an integratedcircuit (IC), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), adigital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA),a programmable logic controller (PLC), a complex programmable logicdevice (CPLD), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC)microprocessor, a discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. A processor can be implemented as a combination ofcomputing processing units. In certain embodiments, processors canutilize nanoscale architectures, such as molecular and quantum-dot basedtransistors, switches and gates, in order to optimize space usage orenhance performance of user equipment.

In addition, in the present specification and annexed drawings, termssuch as “store,” storage,” “data store,” “data storage,” “memory,”“repository,” and substantially any other information storage componentrelevant to operation and functionality of a component of thedisclosure, refer to “memory components,” entities embodied in a“memory,” or components forming the memory. It can be appreciated thatthe memory components or memories described herein embody or comprisenon-transitory computer storage media that can be readable or otherwiseaccessible by a computing device. Such media can be implemented in anymethods or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, information structures, program modules,or other information objects. The memory components or memories can beeither volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or can include bothvolatile and non-volatile memory. In addition, the memory components ormemories can be removable or non-removable, and/or internal or externalto a computing device or component. Example of various types ofnon-transitory storage media can comprise hard-disc drives, zip drives,CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magneticcassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magneticstorage devices, flash memory cards or other types of memory cards,cartridges, or any other non-transitory medium suitable to retain thedesired information and which can be accessed by a computing device.

As an illustration, a non-volatile memory device can include ROM device,programmable ROM (PROM) device, electrically programmable ROM (EPROM)device, electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM) device, non-volatile RAM,and/or silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) device. As anillustration, NVRAM devices can be embodied in several forms, includingflash memory devices and/or a resistive memory devices, such asmagnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) devices, phase change RAM (PRAM) devices,and/or conductive bridge RAM (CBRAM)) devices. A volatile memory devicecan include RAM, which can act as an external cache memory device. Byway of illustration and not limitation, RAM can be available in manyforms, such as synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronousDRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM(ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM). Thedisclosed memory components or memories of operational environmentsdescribed herein are intended to comprise one or more of these and/orany other suitable types of memory.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainimplementations could include, while other implementations do notinclude, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, suchconditional language generally is not intended to imply that features,elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or moreimplementations or that one or more implementations necessarily includelogic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whetherthese features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to beperformed in any particular implementation.

What has been described herein in the present specification and annexeddrawings includes examples of systems, devices, techniques, and computerprogram products that can permit or otherwise facilitate configuration(e.g., can provide mechanisms to configure or otherwise establish) ofdata path groups in a low-power network (wireless or otherwise). It is,of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination ofelements and/or methods for purposes of describing the various elementsof the disclosure, but it can be recognized that many furthercombinations and permutations of the disclosed features are possible.Accordingly, it may be apparent that various modifications can be madeto the disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit thereof. Inaddition or in the alternative, other embodiments of the disclosure maybe apparent from consideration of the specification and annexeddrawings, and practice of the disclosure as presented herein. It isintended that the examples put forward in the specification and annexeddrawings be considered, in all respects, as illustrative and notrestrictive. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are usedin a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, comprising: at least one memory devicehaving instructions encoded thereon; and at least one processorfunctionally coupled to the at least one memory device and configured toexecute the instructions to: identify proximity informationrepresentative of an amount of physical separation of the device from asecond device; configure a data link with the second device; and assign,based at least on a portion of the proximity information, the data linkto an extant data path group associated with a cluster of devicesincluding the device.
 2. The device of claim 1, further comprising aradio unit that receives wireless signal from the second deviceaccording to a defined radio technology protocol, the radio unitcomprising at least one transceiver and at least one antenna; andwherein to identify the proximity information, the at least oneprocessor is coupled to the radio unit and further configured to executethe instructions to determine at least one of a received signal strengthindicator (RSSI) for the wireless signal, a channel path loss of thewireless signal, a ranging distance from the second device, or alocation of the second device.
 3. The device of claim 2, wherein thedevice comprises a communication unit that processes at least a portionof the wireless signal, according to the defined radio technologyprotocol, for a determination of one or more of the RSSI, the channelpath loss, the ranging distance from the second device, or the location.4. The device of claim 1, wherein the data link comprises a NeighborAwareness Networking (NAN) data link, and wherein the data path groupcomprises a NAN data cluster.
 5. The device of claim 1, wherein the atleast one processor is further configured to execute the instructions toretain at least a portion of the proximity information in a datastructure within the first device.
 6. The device of claim 5, wherein thedata structure comprises a field indicative of the at least the portionof the proximity information, and wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to execute the instructions to associate the datastructure to the data link.
 7. The device of claim 5, wherein the atleast one processor is further configured to execute the instructions toaccess second proximity information representative of a second amount ofseparation of the device from a third device; to configure a second datalink; and to assign, based at least on a second portion of the secondproximity information and the proximity information, the second datalink to the extant data path group.
 8. The device of claim 7, whereinthe at least one processor is further configured to execute theinstructions to determine a value of a defined function of the firstproximity information and the second proximity information; to updatethe data structure to include the value; and to associate the value tothe extant data path group.
 9. The device of claim 1, wherein the atleast one processor is further configured to execute the instructions toaccess link information indicative of data links respectively associatedwith data path groups, each of the data path groups associated with arespective cluster of devices; to access proximity informationassociated with the data path groups; to determine that a first datapath group of the data path groups is associated with first proximityinformation that satisfies a proximity criterion; and to assign at leasta subset of the data links to the first data path group.
 10. The deviceof claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured toexecute the instructions to determine that a first data link of the datalinks has a first base schedule that includes a base schedule of asecond data path group of the data path groups; to determine that asecond data link of the data links has a second base schedule thatincludes the base schedule; and to assign the first data link and thesecond data link to the second data path group.
 11. At least onecomputer-readable storage device having encoded thereon instructionsthat, in response to execution, cause a first device to perform orfacilitate operations comprising: accessing proximity informationrepresentative of an amount of separation of the first device from asecond device; configuring a data link with the second device; andassigning, based at least on a portion of the proximity information, thedata link to an extant data path group associated with a cluster ofdevices including the first device.
 12. The at least onecomputer-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the accessing theproximity information comprises determining at least one of a receivedsignal strength indicator (RSSI) for a wireless signal received from thesecond device, a channel path loss of the wireless signal, a rangingdistance from the second device, or a location of the second device. 13.The at least one computer-readable storage device of claim 11, theoperations further retaining at least a portion of the proximityinformation in a data structure within the device.
 14. The at least onecomputer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein the data structurecomprises an attribute having a field indicative of the at least theportion of the proximity information, the operations further comprisingassociating the attribute to at least one of the data link or the datapath group.
 15. The at least one computer-readable storage device ofclaim 13, the operations further comprising accessing second proximityinformation representative of a second amount of physical separation ofthe first device from a third device; configuring a second data link;and assigning, based at least on a second portion of the secondproximity information and the proximity information, the second datalink to the extant data path group.
 16. The at least onecomputer-readable storage device of claim 15, the operations furthercomprising determining a value of a defined function of the firstproximity information and the second proximity information; updating thedata structure to include the value; and associating the value to theextant data path group.
 17. The at least one computer-readable storagedevice of claim 11, wherein the assigning comprises determining that theextant data path group has a base schedule that is a subset of a secondschedule of the data link.
 18. The at least one computer-readablestorage device of claim 11, wherein the assigning comprises determiningthat the second device in included in the cluster of devices associatedwith the extant data path group.
 19. The at least one computer-readablestorage device of claim 11, the operations further comprising receivinginformation indicative of the data path group prior to the assigning.20. The at least one computer-readable storage device of claim 11,wherein the assigning comprises determining that a portion of theproximity information satisfies a proximity criterion; identifying thedata path group by determining that the data path group is associatedwith the portion of the proximity information.
 21. The at least onecomputer-readable storage device of claim 11, the operations furthercomprising accessing link information indicative of data linksrespectively associated with data path groups, each of the data groupsassociated with a respective cluster of devices; accessing proximityinformation associated with the data path groups; determine that a firstdata path group of the data path groups is associated with firstproximity information that satisfies a proximity criterion; andassigning at least a subset of the data links to the first data pathgroup.
 22. The at least one computer-readable storage device of claim21, further comprising determining that a first data link of the datalinks has a first base schedule that includes a base schedule of asecond data path group of the data path groups; determining that asecond data link of the data links has a second base schedule thatincludes the base schedule; and assigning the first data link and thesecond data link to the second data path group.
 23. A device,comprising: an access unit that identifies proximity informationrepresentative of an amount of physical separation of the device from asecond device; a configuration unit that configures a data link with thesecond device; and an assignment unit that associates, based on aportion of the proximity information and at least one of secondproximity information associated with extant data links or thirdproximity information associated with data path groups, the data link toa data path group associated with a cluster of devices including thedevice.
 24. The device of claim 23, further comprising a radio unit thatreceives wireless signal from the second device according to a definedradio technology protocol, the radio unit comprising at least onetransceiver and at least one antenna; and a communication unit coupledto the radio unit, the communication unit generates informationrepresentative of the wireless signal.
 25. The device of claim 24,wherein to identify the proximity information, the access unit receivesat least a portion of the information, and determines, using at leastthe portion of the information, at least one of a received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) for the wireless signal, a channel path lossof the wireless signal, a ranging distance from the second device, or alocation of the second device.